Practice Notes - Day 15 - Wildcat exposure

Only one other time in training camp had Buffalo’s offense executed some plays out of their Wildcat formation. Tuesday night the offensive unit under the direction of Brad Smith made their most extensive use of that package.

Smith ran 12 plays with both the second unit and the starting unit getting six plays apiece.

“I think it takes time to build a rapport to work on things,” Smith told Buffalobills.com. “There are a lot of nuances to playing the quarterback position itself and then you add the Wildcat in and there are things you need to work on. And we are working on that.”

Head coach Chan Gailey expressed disappointment more than once last season that the shortened 2011 offseason prevented he and his offensive staff from incorporating Smith’s multi-dimensional talents into the offense more. Now a year later, Gailey is excited about what’s possible.

“We’re a lot further along with how to use him and what we’re going to try to do with him,” he said. “I think we’ve got a chance to have a great little package with him. It’s going to be good for us I think.”

For all the highlights watch the daily Bills Roundup report in the Media Center at buffalobills.com.

Lineup notes
Cordy Glenn and Chris Hairston continue to take reps on a rotating basis at left tackle. Hairston is still spelling Erik Pears at right tackle as the incumbent starter is still not getting a full workload.

Vince Young and Tyler Thigpen continue to rotate as the second quarterback. For the second straight day both took all the team reps in 7-on-7 with Ryan Fitzpatrick getting a break on his number of throws in practice.

Both have improved as camp has worn on making it tough on Chan Gailey and his staff with respect to the competition.

“They’ve made it tough the whole time,” said Gailey of Thigpen and Young. “Vince was really behind the eight ball early, but he’s come on strong. It’s going to be a tough decision for us.”

To provide a glimpse of how close take a look at their statistics for Tuesday’s red zone work. Thigpen was 7-11 passing with a pair of touchdowns and one play where he ate the ball. Young was also 7-11 passing with a pair of touchdowns, an interception and one play where he ate the ball.

On Monday sixth-round pick Mark Asper was the one at second string left guard, but on Tuesday Asper kicked inside to play second team center. Colin Brown was the second team left guard. Keith Williams also rotated in at times.

In the defensive backfield undrafted rookie Delano Howell got second team reps at free safety. For most of camp it has been Nick Saenz as the second team free safety.

Injury update
Kellen Heard left practice early with a right leg injury. Rookie offensive tackle James Carmon also sustained an undisclosed injury and was pulled from practice early.

“We had to take a couple of guys in for x-rays,” said Gailey. “Heard and Carmon. We took those two guys in for some x-rays so we’ll see how those come out.”

Results are expected on Wednesday.

Nicked up during practice were both Tashard Choice and Johnny White. Choice returned to team work. White didn’t get any reps after getting shaken up.

Justin Rogers, Josh Nesbitt, Robert Eddins and Kevin Brock did not participate in practice.

Shawne Merriman returned after getting a day off Monday.

Schedule
The Bills have one more brief practice at St. John Fisher Wednesday morning that is closed to the public. After that they’ll head back to One Bills Drive for a walk through on Thursday before departing for Minneapolis for their Friday night preseason game against the Vikings.

Fan Tweets of the Day

Listening in California and loving the @johnmurphyshow! Thanks for the coverage of #BillsCamp 2012. #GoBills
— mRm (@TheRoadKinger) August 14, 2012